Fundamentally, a camera captures images, either as a single image (photograph) or a sequence of images (video), by capturing the visible light (λ=400-700 nm) emitted by an object(s) on a recording medium.
Traditionally, cameras only took two-dimensional images (hereinafter referred to as “2-D”). However, cameras and camera techniques have been developed to capture three-dimensional images (hereinafter referred to as “3-D”). Stereoscopic imaging is one such technique. In stereoscopy, a 3-D image is recorded through a pair of 2-D images, capturing the same image, each being from a slightly different perspective. Each perspective acts to simulate the angle of vision from one of two human eyes. Scientifically, this phenomenon is known as binocular vision, enabling the human brain to interpret depth and object distance by combining two separate perceptions from eyes, one from the left eye and one from the right eye.
As shown in FIG. 1, the human field of view is composed of a view from each eye, where the view from each eye does not overlap 100%. Rather, each human eye gathers images from a unique perspective. As a result, the viewer can capture depth because of the two different views. Following that reasoning, the industry has long used two cameras to imitate human vision to deliver depth information.
Stereoscopic imaging is only possible because two images, from slightly different perspectives, are captured and presented either side-by-side, or overlaying the images. Conventionally, the industry has used two cameras, side-by-side, in order to simulate the human vision system of two eyes. As a result, those two cameras need to be aligned precisely. In particular, digital cameras for stereoscopic 3-D require higher precision due to pixel conversion. The cost of 3-D image capture is high because two cameras and precise alignment is expensive and exhaustive.
A problem exists with these systems, as they are higher cost in comparison with 2-D image capturing because of the additional camera and alignment issues. In particular, the precision for digital 3-D needs to be higher than film 3-D because of the pixel conversion reasons.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,320,705 discloses a method and apparatus for an adjustable wedge used to utilize the relative positioning of adjacently disposed convex and concave surfaces with equal spherical or cylindrical curvatures contacted together by a thin layer of lubricant. Although ‘705 provides an adjustable optical wedge that eliminates or minimizes distortions, aberrations and/or vignetting of transmitted light beams, the wedge is incapable of rotating in such a way as to facilitate stereoscopic imaging.